Are the Sabres better?

‘So are the Sabres a better team today than they were yesterday? I think they are. They get a huge drop off in faceoffs as Hodgson doesn’t even win 45% of his draws. Gaustad has been in the NHL’s top three the past two seasons. You have a guy that is likely to be one of your top two centers for many years to come for a guy who for the last month has been one of the best shutdown and penalty killing forwards around. The problem is where has that been the last two years. He chipped in some offense lately, but he’s never scored in the playoffs and has come up very small. He’s also been part of this stale core group for the Sabres that has proven for four years it’ll crumble when times get tough. Tim Connolly and now Gaustad have been removed from that group and replaced by Hodgson and Leino.’